was first inserted in the P.L. 1721, under the title of “Spiritus Salis
Volatilis Oleosus.” Cinnamon, mace, cloves, citron, sal ammoniac, and
salts of tartar were distilled with spirit of wine. In 1746 the process
was altered, sal ammoniac and fixed alkali being first distilled with
proof spirit to yield “spiritus salis anmioniaci dulcis,” to which
essential oils of lemon, nutmeg, and cloves were added, and the mixture
was then re-distilled. In 1788 the spirit became spiritus ammoniæ
compositus, and the redistillation when the oils had been added was
omitted. The name spiritus ammoniæ aromaticus was first adopted in the
P.L. 1809, and has been retained ever since, though the process of
making it has been frequently varied. That title was first given to it
in the Dublin Pharmacopœia of 1807. Spiritus Salinus Aromaticus was the
first title adopted in the Edinburgh Pharmacopœia. It was a preparation
similar to that of the P.L., but angelica, marjoram, galangal, anthos
flowers, orange, and lemon were additional flavours.
Quincy (1724) credits Sylvius with the invention of this spirit, which
he refers to as “mightily now in use,” and as “a most noble cephalic
and cordial.” It had “almost excluded the use of spirit of hartshorn.”
This preparation, invented by Sylvius, was called the Carminative
Spirit of Sylvius.
Mindererus’s Spirit, made from distilled vinegar and the volatile
spirit of hartshorn, is believed by many competent authorities to have
possessed virtues which are not contained in the modern liquor ammonii
acetati. The late Professor Redwood was one of these. He believed that
the old preparation contained a trace of cyanic ether. The new liquor,
he said, made from strong caustic solution of ammonia and strong acetic
acid, “is but the ghost of the old preparation. It is as unlike the
true Mindererus’s Spirit as a glass of vapid distilled water is unlike
the sparkling crystal water as it springs from a gushing fountain”
(_Pharm. Jnl._, Vol. V., N.S. p. 408). Mindererus was a physician of
Augsburg who died in 1621. It was Boerhaave in 1732 who advocated the
use of Mindererus’s Spirit and made it popular.
Eau de Luce, which was official in the P.L. 1824, under the title of
Spiritus Ammoniæ Succinatus, was an ammonia compound which became
popular in France, and, in some degree all over Europe, about the
middle of the eighteenth century, and was apparently first sold for
removing grease from cloth and other fabrics. It is said that one of
the pupils of Bernard Jussieu, having been bitten by a viper, applied
some of the preparation, and was cured by it. It thence acquired a
medical fame, which it still retains. The P.L. formula ordered 3
drachms of mastic, 4 minims of oil of amber, and 14 minims of oil of
lavender to be dissolved in 9 fluid drachms of rectified spirit, and
mixed with 10 fluid ounces of solution of ammonia. In some of the
Continental pharmacopœias a much larger proportion of oil of amber is
prescribed, and sometimes only that and spirit of ammonia. In some
soap is ordered. In the P.L., 1851, the oil of amber was omitted.
It has been recommended for external application in rheumatism and
paralysis.
It has been generally asserted that this preparation was devised by a
pharmacist of Lille (some say of Amsterdam), of the name of Luce. It
is also asserted that a Paris pharmacist named Dubalen originated it,
and that he and his successor Juliot made it popular; that Luce of
Lille imitated it, but that not being able to get it purely white added
some copper and gave it a blue tint which came to be a mark of its
genuineness. Among the names applied to it have been Aqua Luccana, Aqua
Sancti Luciæ, Aqua Lucii, and Eau de Lusse.